h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The pub quiz guestround on sunday is going to be about the lord of the rings. I've just realised that I have never read the book, or seen the film. so, I've got no chance. Can anyone fill me in a little? Basic synopsis, actors etc?

your best bet is to go see the film before sunday.....

I wish i could but not possible. Band commitments etc.

C'mon people! A chance to show off your knowledge!

well at the moment i'm on about page 8 of the prologue so er... come back to me in a couple of week/months

try cliff notes?

There's a LotR quiz on somewhere in h2g2, although I struggled with it, even though I'm a fan. There are definitely quite a few LotR threads up and running. Go through to my Personal Space to find them.

Cliff note?

cheers bob.

Is this quiz about the film or book?

'cos if you want a plot synopsis about the book, it's going to be a looooooong post!

The film I think.

I just want to know, who the main characters are and a very loose jist of what happens.

Well, I haven't actually seen the film yet and it's been about ten years since I read the book but here goes!
The hobbits are Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin, Gandalf is the wizard, Aragorn (or Strider) is the man, Boromir the dwarf and Legolas the elf. I have a feeling I'm leaving someone out....but basically they are the fellowship and the story centres around them in their quest to destroy the ring.

Boromir is a man, Gimli is the Dwarf

Oh yeah Like I said, it's been a while...

OK here goes.

Back in the deep Mists of time the Elves (immortal beings of great power) forged many Rings of Power, in this they were aided deceitfully by Sauron, the dark lord. When they had completed the most powerful of these magic rings, Sauron seceretly forged one Great Ring of Power to tie up all these rings under it's power so that he could dominate and rule all others in Middle Earth. When he did this the Elves discovered their folly and hid their rings of power. Sauron came down in war and took from them most of the rings. Three they retained and hid. Of the others, seven Sauron gave to the dwarves and nine he gave to mortal men. These nine rings eventually came to enslave and dominate these nine kings of men and they eventually faded to wraiths under Sauron's dominion, these are the Ringwraiths or Nazgul, his most terrible servants.

Men and Elves at this time formed an alliance and went to War with Sauron, a war they won and a man called Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand and he was defeated. However, Isildur did not destroy the Great Ring of Power and so Sauron was not completely undone and his spirit slowly grew and took shape over the next 3000 years or so.
Isildur was betrayed by the One Ring, it slipped off his fingers when he was escaping some Orcs (goblins) and they killed him. The ring went to the bottom of a river and was found by a creature called Gollum. Gollum possessed the ring for many hundreds of years (the Great Rings extend life of mortals many times over the natural span). and was almost completely consumed by it, becoming very evil under the domination of the Ring.
In The Hobbit, a hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins found the ring deep inside a mountain and returned with it to his Home in the Shire.

This is where the story really begins for your purposes.

Bilbo (played by Ian Holm) holds a party to celebrate his 111th birthday. Gandalf the Wizard (Ian McKellen) attends and astound all with an amazing fireworks display. During the party Bilbo uses the Ring to disappear and leaves the Shire for good. Gandalf, suspecting the ring to be an evil influence (but not yet knowing for certain its true identity) persuades Bilbo to leave his Ring to his cousin and heir Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood). Gandalf then leaves to investigate the nature of this Ring of Power.



Frodo lives on in the Shire happily for years but one day Gandalf returns and reveals to Frodo the true awesome power and danger of his Ring. He also reveals that the Enemy (Sauron, now returned and in power in is evil realm of Mordor) has captured Gollum and knows that his ruling Ring has been found and knows the name of Baggins and of the Shire.
Frodo, with his friend and Servant Sam Gamgee (Sean Astin) escape from the Shire with the aid of two more Hobbit friends Merry (Dominic Managhan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd). They are pursued by Riders in Black who turn out to be the nine Ringwraiths or Nazgul.
Meanwhile, Gandalf goes to Isengard to consult with the head of his Wizardly order, Saruman the White (Cristopher Lee) only to discover that Saruman has become Evil and is in League with Sauron. He is imprisoned by Saruman who begins an evil work, raising and army of Orcs and breeding half orc-half men or Uruk-Hai. Gandalf escapes by being carried away by a great Eagle.



In a village called Bree, Frodo and chums meet up with a mysterious man called Strider (Viggo Mortensen) who claims to be a friend of Gandalf and promises to guide them to Rivendell, a city of the Elves where Elrond (Hugo Weaving, the main Agent in The Matrix) is the Lord. They agree and flee, pursued by the Nazgul. Whilst on the run, Frodo gets run down by the Nazgul and is stabbed by one of them. He becomes very ill and starts to fade like a wraith. Elrond's daughter Arwen (Liv Tyler) and Strider's lover finds them and resues Frodo, carrying him to Rivendell on horseback. Once across the ford to Rivendell, she calls up the water and a deluge consumes the Nazgul, unhorsing them and defeating them.



Frodo is nursed back to health by Elrond and discovers that Bilbo is there. The other hobbits and Strided have also arrived. Strider is revealed to be Aragonr, Isildur's heir, the last in a long line of Kings of Men.
In Rivendell, Elrond calls a council of Men, Elves, hobbits, wizards and Dwarves to decide what they are going to do with the Ring. It is decided to destroy it, the only way, because of its magical power is to send it into the fires of the volcano Mount Doom in Mordor where it was made, aeons ago. A particularly dark and dangerous thing to do.
Frodo volunteers to take the ring himself and with him are sent eight companions (nine walkers against the nine riders of Mordor). These are Sam, Merry and Pippin, Gandalf (now returned), Aragorn (strider), Boromir (Sean Bean, the son of the Lord of Minas Tirith, a great city of Men and Mordor's main enemy), Legolas (Orlando Bloom, an Elf) and Gimli (a dwarf). This is the Fellowship of the Ring.



The fellowship head south towards Mordor and must cross a Mountain range but Saruman, using his magic powers sends out a great snowstorm to thwart them and they find they must us a route through the mountains that all dread. They must go through the ancient Dwarf city of Khazad-dum, now known by the black name of the Mines of Moria. Upon entering the mines they discover it is more like a tomb but as they try to leave again they are attacked by a giant Kraken in a lake outside the gate. They fight it off but it blocks the gate giving them no choice but to go through Moria. It is dark and dangerous but eventually they come to a great chamber where they discover the tomb of Balin. Balin is a cousin of Gimli and an old companion of Bilbo Baggins but in a failed attempt to retake the Mines of Moria from the Orcs he was killed. Whilst in this chamber they are attacked by orcs and a huge Cave troll. They barely escape with their lives but whilst fleeing ar surrounded by thousands of Orcs. These orcs suddenly flee at the appearance of a dark red glow in the mines. Gandalf recognises the danger and the flee for their lives. Over the last bridge of Moria they finally meet this great foe. It is a Balrog, an fire demon from the ancient world when Sauron was but a servant of the first and greater dark lord Morgoth.
Gandalf fights the Balrog on the bridge and casts it down the chasm but is dragged into it himself by the Balrog.



Dismayed by the death of Gandalf the rest of the Fellowship flee out of the Mines and arrive at the Elven forest of Lothlorien. Here they meet the most ancient of Elves, Queen Galadriel (Cate Blanchett). She provides shelter and rest for the Fellowship and gives them advice and counselling. To Frodo she gives a Phial of Liquid 'to light his way when all other lights go out'. She also lets him look into The Mirror of Galadriel which shows him some things that may come to be in the future if the quest fails. He offers Galadriel the Ring of Power in order to use it as a weapon agains the enemy. She is tempted but declines.



They leave Lothlorien and the fellowship now face a choice. Will they go to Minas Tirith with Boromir to fight in the impending War against Mordor or will they follow Frodo to Mordor and help destroy the ring. Boromir follows Frodo whilst he is thinking and tries to persuade him to go to Minas tirith and use the Ring as a weapon. When Frodo refuses Boromir is overcome by the Power of the Ring and tries to take the ring by force. Frodo puts on the ring and escapes whilst invisible, he resolves to go to Mordor on his own.
The rest of the fellowship notice Frodo is missing and set out to look for them.
Whilst they are looking they are attacked by a troop of Saruman's Uruk Hai. Boromir dies defending Merry and Pippin who are taken alive as prisoners. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli set out to rescue them.

Sam, not wanting to leave Frodo works out what Frodo is up to and finds him trying to leave on a boat. Frodo has no choice but to accept him as a companion. They set off on the final stages of the journey to Mordor.

Here ends the Fellowship of the Ring.

Next year, the second instalment....The Two Towers, the story of Isengard and Minas Morgul, the city of the Ringwraiths....


Hope that helps

Orcus

Hats off Orcus! Really good resumé. Loads of info, all the key players and in so few words!

Whoever asked for some info got their wish!

Seeya
Spiff

Orcus, that was fantastic. Thank you very much!

Powerful ring gets lost, gets found, gets passed on, gets thrown away and destroyed. There are hobbits.

PP

Oh I forgot. It doesn't half cause a lot of trouble.

PP

Orcus - the conviction to sit down and write all that !!!

PHEW !!!

Why thank you

...and for my next trick...

War and Peace...

Not!

And if it's on the film - check the IMDb for info on it - directed by Peter Jackson is a good start
Music's by Howard Shore,
And the weapons training was done by Bob Anderson, who trained Errol Flynn - for pointless trivia...